"Persecution is nothing new for soldiers of the Lord. The choice is clear."
Heavenly Father,
'Sister' Hypatia is a strange one. A nun who became a woman of the cloth- still an event that strikes some skeptecism despite my exposure and alliance with so many different people, faiths, and even different times. So many different variants of the world proper, and different interpretations of your Word, but in the end I am satisfied. The core ideals remain the same, only the nuance, the minute difference.
After all, look at all that she has accomplished. Her victories outweigh the ever present concern.
The conviction of everyone that gathers around this hallowed hall, this small church, is impressive and were it not for the misery and monsters I might have forgotten that it was Purgatory.
Again I have been asked to aid the criminal and wicked- and again, I am sure I shall be damned for it, because that is the path I have chosen to walk.
To bring light forward, one must step into the darkness.
The trick is surviving the venture.
I hear every strangled gasp.
I smell the blackpowder.
I feel their fear.
My heart races every time I close my eyes,
I see them.
For every victory I have, I will always remember my failures.
I am sorry I did not listen better, Jean.
Maybe things would have been different
Why?
The question burns in my soul and it crushes the fragments of my heart into a fine cutting sand.
I hear it again.
I hear the black wind howl again.
I never thought the day would come that I would have to take off my Tabbard.
They warned me.
I denied them.
And now, I am forced to abandon hearth and home, to pray for better days.
I have never backed down once.
Nor have I ever been asked to do so.
Never too late for new things, hm?
"I need you to run, because it is what is right. It is the only thing you can do, now.
No..
Not the only thing.
I could kill them all
.. but I even find their wretched lives precious too ..
A newfound comfort,
A treasured angel
Yet my heart still turns to a bitter blackness, as I remove the dagger she placed in my ribs
I hoped I could reach you with care and compassion as you played your stupid games
I am conflicted by the zeal my brethren show because while I do not want the creature to keep it's kill, she rests with the Lords judgment, capable of recieving his mercy and forgiveness.
I offer no such mercy
Reject the gates of Heaven and I will accept only one last confession
Your final breath
Maybe he is right.
I am a storm.
Everything can change in an instant.
Just like that,
A sweet release
My blood thirst slaked , the storm quelled. I can honor my oath without being consumed by it.
A gentle touch and a glittering light that cuts through pure darkness
You have no idea what you have given me
Solace
I will give you my world
Why didn't you ask me....talk to me...pursue me?
A series of questions I never expected to be asked.
I watched the echo of my dead betrothed fall in love with the ghost of a friend.
I would not let you be my downfall when I was weak.
I am not a hunter, and she was not a fox
She was an accident, but she is my angel
I am sorry for your struggles, I truly am, but this is the path I was set to walk, and shall do so well as I can.
---
I saw in my meditations the flaming sword of God striking down Judas when he betrayed Christ.
But He still believes in mercy. In forgiveness
If my friends- my family come to harm-
I will salt the earth until I find you.
Choose your steps wisely, for He is watching, and He is kind and merciful.
For everything else, He sends me.
Another dream
Another vision
A call for peace.
I am infected with fury.
I write my anger I confess my sins to avoid being consumed by them.
My broken heart on paper, sorrow and anger, through the black blood of the pen.
I will entertain this call for peace. This most certain trap
Stab me, burn me, beat me, break me
I will endure and forgive you still.
Pull a single feather from the wings of my angel
Spill a single drop of blood
Break loose a single tear, and I will show you that I am capable of becoming a monster
I will be everything you wanted me to be.
The fifth horseman.
I will be your villain
I almost feel guilty for my friends amongst these cursed lands.
Their Gods have fallen quiet, silent, without a whisper
I arrived here in terror, afraid of every wolf, every shadow, every bat.
I thought this was hell.
I thought it was the afterlife.
Until the first time I prayed
Until I felt his love course through me, his armor envelope me, and my sword erupt in divine flame
I pity them, for I found the truth
This is a prison, yes, but it is not hell.
I do not feel tortured or punished.
I feel love and zeal
I march with his angel
I march with a legion of the faithful
I am not left hollow and wanting
I am complete.
A question I never thought I would ask again
An answer I don't deserve.
Yes
A new title. A familiar feeling
Were you not satisfied with the status quo?
Was it not good enough for you to have your little schemes and take your bribes? Your ruin has come from your repeated blunders. Your destruction a result of your unchecked ambition. It is the result from one side reaching too far.
I will not reach out for you.
I will be waiting. I want to live, and let live, but you persist
You have been seen, and in time you will be known, and when that time comes I will find you.
I will find your spirit.
And I will break it.
"You will have to go to confessional later"
I have confessed everything before God
I have confessed everything to you.
The beauty you have brought into my life is beyond measure, however the wicked try to adjust the scales
Long ago, I waded into those murky depths, and I brought unto them peace. I remember that when all the cards were on the table, their agents came to me, because I was the 'only truly honest man'.
From those very same depths, they now call me the Backstabbing Father
The very antithesis of who I am.
My name echos around these halls longer than any soldier of faith, any great man of fortune, because I am a survivor.
I have broken the souls and spines of every assassin that has come my way, and let them leave with their lives.
Even still, my open hand has come from the light and into the darkness to save so many of you from perdition.
How quickly you forget
I will never forget that night, nearly four years ago.
The Drow that leapt from the shadows from within the hospice, in Vallaki's slums
A terrible hiss of steel
The pang of pain as his blades struck my leg
His scream.
"The House sends its regards. "
They sought to take my life if only for being the Trustee of the Kinship.
I remember the terror in his eyes as I withstood the crippling blow, and his panicked attempt to flee.
I remember the wheeze of his breath as the prayer of destruction crushed him.
The look of confusion when I kept him from the black rivers of death
The peace that followed.
Must every quiet day be paid for with a pound of flesh?
I don't want to take lives, but I wont give you mine.
I know this feeling.
I remember the scent of the impending rainstorm.
Lexington
That scream of a man's dying sanity.
"You were like a brother. Traitor!"
Blithering fool. That entire sordid affair taught me many valuable lessons though. I know the pit in my stomach and the ache of my heart.
I failed to act, then, and allowed his heresy to continue. I am fortunate.
I knew how to fight the enemy.. He taught me how to fight a friend.
Time to end this.
God is in every falling leaf.
He is in every forest. Every circle of stone. Every drop of rain. Every whisper of wind.
The Black Duke had only his pathetic taunts
His soulless puppets.
He laughed.
He jeered.
Right until my arrows struck him.
I felt her blade pierce my throat.
Felt blood spill from my lips and fill my lungs.
I was not afraid.
Those shrouded in eternal darkness need the light most of all.
He is dangerous. He is black and vile. He is fear.
Yet he will lose, because I have armor that cannot be broken again, a weapon without comparison.
I hear the trumpets of the Lord's Angels.
I see the light of Saint Andral.
He will lose because I have Faith.
SI VIS PACEM PARABELLUM
Perfect
An angel
The last piece of my puzzle
Heart beating faster, mind racing, spirit surging
I have never felt so complete. I have never felt so strongly. Never seen with such clarity
I have seen Andrals angels, I have beheld the Lord's flaming sword
I feel the planet sing, the percussion of the cherubs drums on the wind
The visage of the Lord in a flurry of falling leaves.
The world unites.
It's devouring roots rising to crush this pretender.
This Black Duke
I am complete
And you should be...
Afraid.
Hail to the King
For his army has risen
Thunderous lightning
Howling black storm
Cacophany of discordant fighting
Fragile peace I mourn
Been here oft before
Stuck in terrible darkness
Begging for life to be more
Demons eternal after my carcass
Screaming for a ray of light
Carrying a shattered heart
Running out of will to fight
But not yet ready to part.
Not ready yet..
Not until I scour you all from the earth and return you to our Fathers merciful judgment.
Not with my back turned Not once, not ever
No boon would ever be worth that risk
You are a seraphim, yet you speak of my deeds
I have only taken beatings so that others did not have to.
What has it gotten me? What have I brought to the world?
A long list of dead friends.
A betrothed devoured by the mist.
A whip across my back, shackles on my wrist, and a sword through my throat.
I can't let the same happen to you.
It's not you that is afraid.
You are fearless.
I am not.
It mustn't happen again.
Neutrality disgusts me
Watch the world around you burn
Pretend like their talons can't reach you
The monster that devours your friends
Butchers your betrothed and eats your children
It does not share your idiotic indifference
The machinations of the mists count on fools like this.
When they've licked my bones clean..
..do you truly believe that they will not come for you?
The look on her face of sheer despair
Tears and terror as the blood was wiped from my throat
How furiously she turned the pages of every book
Searching for a way to make things right
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I drowned in my own mistakes
Each and every failure of Diots a failure of my own
The copper of my own blood
The taste of shame
Yet all I see is Heaven before me
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I am rewarded for my failure
Her resolve is tempered with my blood
Impurities burned free.
An avenging Angel
Walking through fire
Turning our weakness into her weapon
"Is this your way of letting me down gently?"
No- They knew better. Is their heart just as fragile- just as afraid?
The sun would grow ashen cold without the moon
A flower without light and love dies
My world could spin no more without you
My intent is easy to know
A shared path till my last breath.
------
I am less a Catholic, or a Templar, and more a man of the LORD.
It felt odd to tell them this
I would die all the same for speaking of any of this if I ever returned home
It lends credence to the understanding that men can be wrong
I would be set upon the stake for manifesting His will- for even claiming it.
No matter. I believe in the Just, True, and Good- and in the end I believe that will be rewarded - good faith and virtue repayed with paradise.
Paradise for us both
The words haunt me.
They do not know where I've began. I've not told them. I have only opened my armored heart when I believed there was a chance I wasn't coming back.
That has been frequent as of late, yet I persist
It has been an eternity since I raised my shield and died to protect the Grand Master. It's been an eternity of imprisonment within the mists.
My path has changed, twisted and weaved in directions I never expected- far from the boy who knew no lineage, far from the young sailor and soldier of Saint John.
Somehow my story is not over, and the change I can bring is not yet at an end. Not for Janos. Not to my dearest friends. Not to my Angel.
I am among the last line of defense for the helpless.
They are my student, my shadow, my greatest prodigy- the reformation and rebirth of youthful hope; they are the rebirth of promise.
They are half of me, now. They are everything I wish I could be again, and everything I wish for this world to have again.
They are love.
They are humor.
They are fury.
They are determination.
They are perfect
"You are either very naive or you are malicious. I pray it's the former"
How these entitled children test my patience
They scream at the night, thinking themselves impervious
A belief that those unblinking red eyes do not see them
I fear the day you meet your reckoning- the day Night's Talons tears your still beating heart from your chest.
Poor, childish fool. He stands idly by pact-makers and cannibals, a man decorated with a lash for every victim.
My word is beyond contestation. My witness, my sainted shadow beyond dispute.
I cannot command you- I cannot tell you what to do
I can only pray that you see the light
I hope you see it before I drag you into it screaming.
"I have come to terms with the fact that I can't beat you, Priest, but I can still break you. "
I hear this so often, and it causes my heart to break and bleed.
That voice ringing in the back of my head, that nagging whisper reminding me that whilst
I fight with the love and fury of our King, our Father in Heaven, my friends
and my sainted shadoware not afforded the same luxury.
The only divine protection they have is my shield, weighed by the burden of knowing that the harm they face,
the harm she faces is my burden to bear- my cause.
Had I not took an interest in mentorship- chosen to guide her-
Would she still have sought to look into the darkness for the answers?
Would she peer into the shadows forged by his divine light?
Would she have had the ability to live a normal, peaceful life beyond the watchful blades of the Lord's enemies, or my own?
I wonder, truly, if I stole that from her, just as I stole that first kiss.
Did my appreciation- my pride- steal her future?
The sneering face of that undead wretch, that twisted immortal whore and her blood-red eyes
will forever be burned into the forefront of my mind. I will forever see the brand she left, and the expression as fangs bit flesh.
Neither will I forget then what I am capable of.
That lions roar, the Voice of the Lord, and the incomprehensible and utter baptism of fire
I will remember it. I remember the smell of The End, through tears and fury, and the voice that joined it
The scream of mother Earth, the echo of our Father.
I'll never forget the fire that grew around my arms
The lava that fell from my mouth as I howled
I remember the smoldering remains of the building.
"I was going to kill that little girl to get at you. "
I smiled, and asked you to pray with me, anyway.
I choked on your steel and spit out my blood.
"How about your friend, Priest? You still have so much to lose. "
I have so much to give. I have so much that I can still take from you, O' Devil.
Each of you that thinks me a mindless butcher, who seek to test my limits
You have only ever seen a man with love in his heart
You have only seen compassion and measured response.
They will strike where they believe they can do the most harm.
Yet they know not what they will unleash
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/60/d8/76/60d876e5b1facc78383a0b6ecdc0c2b5.jpg)
చհąէ հąքքҽղʂ ահҽղ էհҽ Ɠմąɾժìąղ ȺղցҽӀ էմɾղʂ էօ Ỽҽղցąղçҽ?
Ƕҽ ҍɾìղցʂ աìէհ հìʍ էհҽ ҽղժ օf էհҽ աօɾӀժ.
(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DismalFewBighornedsheep-max-1mb.gif)
Eluveitie- Aidus
Genre: Celtic Heavy metal
"I was going to dive into the thick of it anyway"
So she would have- I certainly didn't make her
I was little more than a teacher.
A guiding hand and a little bit of shared prowess.
My fear of stolen dreams met with amusement
What a peculiar woman, my sainted shadow
I could shower her in riches
Luxury, jewelery, fine foods and clothing
Yet if I offered her the choice between that
and a book of study against our common evils
or even a single page of a manuscript lost,
she would choose the knowledge.
A consistent, beautiful marvel.
Light and dark cannot exist without the other,
For the absence of light is not consumption by
Darkness- it is simply nothing. Empty.
She is proof that darkness need not be
mindless evil, that even the afterglow of Holy light
needn't be something to fear. She thrives in it,
something that simply is not possible for me.
There is hope for the future now
Hope that only exists here
Even if I could break out of the mists, shear
through this prison with Excalibur and the Lord's
light, I have too much here that I am not willing
to be rid of. I could not choose a life where Janos,
the son of Emmaline, my Godson, was beyond reach.
You brought me here for a reason, Father.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Thy Will Be Done.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/983311198013513740/1023594655222333540/unknown.png)
I could not choose a life without my
Dark Angel
(edited due to incorrect music link)
The wight sought me
He wished to drag me into hell
A claim that I upset the balance
He named my Angel as his victim
If only for knowing my name
The name that repelled him
He sentenced her to death
Yet it was he that was devoured
Turned into scattered
ash.
She said it with a smile
Just as she said she was attacked
That eternal calm is inspiring
It's a trait I used to have
Now I feel so much emotion
So much fury and rage
So much love and care
A constant storm now
But is that better or worse?
I feel more alive and vibrant
Less focus and clarity
More zeal and determination
More passion and action
Our Father in his wisdom
In his strange humor
He sent a a phantom
The ghost of one that broke a shell
That led to my dear shadow
A calm in every storm
The darkness before the dawn
Peaceful waters.
I feel unworthy
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/981004971925438544/1024886064709632100/2.jpg)
I can't begin to explain the terror I feel
A burden I should not share
Blood and tears from a fear surreal
My solace is not a dream
Yet there is reason for all of this pain
I tremble with my heart ready to scream
Drowning beneath a storms wicked rain
They swear to strike true
A loss I can't manage again
I am terrified of life without you.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1017285488924704829/1025050264463491072/unknown.png)
"I won't endager them because of fear"
I understand this. Truly.
Bravery is not the absence of fear
Bravery is our response to it
I am terrified frequently
Fear of loss, of failure
It can't paralyze.
Much of this knowledge was to die
To fade and be forgotten
But I couldn't let this be the end
The Keepers struggle on
An example unfamiliar fortitude
Silent perseverance
It was long a crushing burden
A nightmare now shared
Shouldered with my angel
Monsters magic and surgery
I saw that in this pair
The desire to endure and protect
Fear, not of pain or monster
I saw them survive it
Fear of magic. Fear of me.
Smelled the iced liquid well up
Heard the growls of pain
Felt the worry and tension
That chilling smile.
That was bravery. That was courage.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3E4EIBKKvS4/Vx8dIL_SHZI/AAAAAAAAK6o/mF8xiYe2OAANxXtCK88dwHectWDQAUw1ACLcB/s280/174305.jpg)
"A lie is an intentional falsehood that violates someone’s right to know the truth"
There are cases in which people forfeit their right to know the truth
These monsters that wish to press us into servitude
Overwhelming armies of the walking dead and horrid beasts
Words given them, words pressed from our lips to save our lives
No pact made under duress is one held as true before the Lord
This is not to say that any God fearing man or woman should lie
We should never seek out or desire dishonesty or deceit
The inherent right to know the truth is lost to the vile
Spin the tale they wish, for in the end, the Lord shall reveal all
The righteous fire of truth will devour the oppressor
Burn free their wicked chains and their choking hate
Fresh earth to sprout life, love, and truth.
This oath means nothing, in the end, to or against him.
The Devil Strahd knows of me.
He knows of the last Red Knight, Roan Vance
He knows I will come. He waits, and watches, but he knows.
No oath will change that.
----------------------------------------------------------
"You two are truly partners."
"She certainly has you under her spell, Lacroix"
It's clear enough for the world to see
Heaven is missing an angel
He sent her here to me.
(https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/medium/print/6/8/break/images-medium-5/sword-of-the-spirit-jeff-haynie.jpg)
The veteran crusader kept his eyes leveled on the petite youth in front of him. He was nearly twice her size in height and width, yet never once did she regard him with fear. In determination and zeal, she cast a shadow farther than he ever could, and he couldn't help but show admiration for it and for her.
Audric placed his shield on his back, and settled the sword in it's scabbard, sighing with restrained frustration as the beauty spoke.
"I think.. you should wait outside, my love."
His eyes flashed in rebellious desire- the need, and desire to protect bucking against her own words to him. He recalled them too- in fact, details of her were among the few things he saw with pristine clarity.
"I..."
That pause- the momentary breath of self reflection and understanding- this is what she had meant. She could not share this, because it was not a connection to him. That connection was already more than assured, and would be a burden, a distraction, from what she needed to do.
"Audric, I need you to have faith in me. To trust me. "
He recalled the words all too well, when he'd moved and scattered the visage of the first shadow that'd reached out of its own Accord.
"I... Yes."
He obediently gathered his belongings, went to the other side of the door, and sealed it behind him.
Every individual had their great challenges in their lives- moments that they can only overcome by their own merit, their own will and determination, and by the great fire of their hearts and he knew very well that this was hers.
She had his support- but he knew she did not need it. It only made things that much easier for a soul that was already so driven to succeed.
It was, perhaps, that very zeal which led to his encouragement of this path- a path that she may well have found without him, but one he certainly helped cement with the unwilling gift of his blood to Diot's blade.
If he stopped and thought about it, he could still feel the moments where the razor sharp blade sheared through him- first when he extended his hand to her and asked her to pray for salvation with him, and she nearly removed his arm- and secondly when she screamed in genuine, pure rage when he refused to attack her.
He could still recall the emergence of the Black Duke- the swirling shadows of corruption, and nothing but pure deceptive villainy - and those violent red eyes. The acidic aura that accompanied his voice was impossible to forget.
"Your God is Weak! Small and insignificant, like you are!"
The echo of his shield and sword hitting the ground was etched permanently into the fabric of time- accompanied by the whistle of two divine arrows launched from the blessed bow "The Stones Truth," and the hiss of steel as Diot moved through the shadow and drove her blade through the back of his throat.
The arrows shattered the dukes host and scattered the image, but it left him staring down at the steel that had run him through. Memories of the pressured feeling of welling blood and the fresh taste of copper were pervasive. Audric knew it was a risk of their meeting, but he couldn't help feel dissappointment and sadness. Not sadness for his impending passing, but pity and remorse for the soul he'd failed to keep on the righteous side of twilight.
The spirit he failed, the one who sent him stumbling down the street towards the Blood of the Vine, bloodied, into the arms of his angel.
In and out of consciousness, he briefly recalled the sound of her panicked voice as she flipped through the great many pages of the veritable hunters library he'd given her.
"There has to be something here.. A-anything!"
There wasn't anything that those books could teach about proper communication and the application of wisdom and intelligent decisions. They were books about monsters that had little to none within them about the most cruel of them all- people.
The elegant darling had elected then to apply herself where she could- to take their greatest weakness, befriend it and turn it against those that abused it.
A click pulled him from his memories- the sound of shambling sinew.
Audric slowly became aware of movement in his surroundings- one by one shadows began to rise, and twice-broken skeletons began to stand with renewed hunger, unintelligent, primitive, violent hunger for the interloping sparks of life in this den of utter darkness.
"No.. no distractions. " He muttered lowly to himself, keenly aware that more and more shadow fiends were streaming into the room, joined by a marching legion of bones.
His left hand stretched behind him and wtih the utterance of practiced latin, two prayers formed a glyph of warding that sealed the door shut and ushered along an unnatural calm, magical silence to the corridor.
Excalibur was drawn out and an angry red vial was shattered against the blade as more adamantine emerged, fire erupting and swirling as the weapon was held defiantly against the encroaching army of the night.
The shards of glass clattered silently.
The bones stepped forward.
His angel danced.
Shades lurched.
Sword slashed.
He held a vigil that no one would ever see or would ever know, and he did so gladly.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1017285488924704829/1030668199684997210/fac971b8adcb2f64.jpg)
He wiped the sweat and blood from his brow.
The skeletons and shadows continued to come in a flood.
The weary Priest held his vigil in the aura of silence
Flaming sword carved a path of continued destruction, returning undeath to death
Abruptly, shadows vanished.
Skeletons crumbled.
A rush of energy washed over the lonely bridge.
The door behind him open.
He smiled.
She-
No.
They.. emerged.
His watch had ended.
I can still smell the burning flesh
Her screams echo in my dreams
I am thankful for the love I have found
Thankful for the friends I treasure so dearly
Watching them suffer is like having iced claws tear through my ribs
The difference between a good man and a villain
can be as simple as a single choice.
Hearing the pain in Janes voice,
the agony in Marissa's scream,
The heckling idiot far from his ship,
I have been here before,
Seen crimes against people,
Helped gather all of the pieces,
Fix bones, restore tongues and eyes,
It never gets easier. It never becomes acceptable.
Always a mere moment, one swing of the sword,
One righteous display of zeal and wrath,
To reduce an eternity of peacekeeping,
Of silent heroism to naught but ash.
Hearing her heart break
It was almost worth it.
.. but the Lord sayeth...
Vengeance is Mine.
(https://www.whitehorsearts.info/images/2021eoypaper/'Rage'%20by%20Laurie%20Dusting.jpg)
The black wind howls
Screams echo eternally
Dark beast growls
The knife settled internally
I am reminded of those that are gone from reach
I am reminded of loss.
I am reminded that he still rests comfortably
I am reminded that every incursion has failed
I am reminded that I do not care.
I'll tear his castle down brick by brick
I am sorry, Marissa.
It was a fairytale
The love. The perfection.
For a time, it was beautiful.
Like every dream, it comes to an end.
I will return to Janos. The boy needs me.
God Bless those that walked the righteous path I set before them,
Yet let no villainy grow comfortable, here in Barovia
For while I mourn the death of happiness
The death of love
I am still His instrument- the flaming sword- and I will bring his vengeance back with me.
In time.
The thunder of hoofbeats across cobbled stone
A scarlet cloak that flowed like a bloody tear in the sky
Blinding white cross that sheared night from day
THE BLAZING BLADE OF HIS VENGANCE
LIT UP THE DARKNESS OF BAROVIA ONCE MORE